Afghanistan: Poppy Crop

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they are giving to diverting a proportion of the Afghan poppy crop for medical use.

Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: The Government have researched options for the licit cultivation of opiates in Afghanistan, particularly their potential use for medical purposes. Our conclusion was that the Government of Afghanistan did not have the necessary control mechanisms in place to ensure the crop was not illegally diverted. Although the capacity and capability of the Afghan state is growing, the lack of robust control mechanisms remains a risk. The Government of Afghanistan have reached the same conclusion. They have ruled out the licit cultivation of opiates as a means of tackling the illegal drugs trade.

Airports: Heathrow

Lord Bates: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations and applications they have received about applying for a public service obligation under European Regulations 2408/92/EEC and 95/93/EEC in order to allow the restoration of air services to Heathrow Airport from Durham Tees Valley Airport.

Lord Adonis: The Department for Transport has discussed the possibility and the costs of imposing a public service obligation on the route with a number of stakeholders from the Tees Valley area. Neither the regional development agency, One North East, nor any other stakeholder in the region has submitted an application.

Benefits: Former UK Residents

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty's Government what systems are in place to support families with children who are British citizens formerly resident in the United Kingdom who return to this country and have no other means of support.

Lord McKenzie of Luton: Subject to immigration conditions all social security benefits are available to people who meet the qualifying conditions.
	For income-related benefits, in addition to the specific qualifying conditions people must also pass an habitual residence test.
	To pass the test everyone, including British citizens returning to the UK after a period abroad, has to show that they have a right to reside and are habitually resident in the common travel area (CTA), which includes the United Kingdom as well as the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and the Republic of Ireland.

Climate Change

Lord Hunt of Chesterton: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to establish, in collaboration with other European governments, enhanced and better-publicised information exchanges about climate change mitigation and adaptation programmes between Chinese and European governmental, academic and industrial organisations.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: Both the UK and the EU engage in regular dialogue and co-operation with China on climate change and value this exchange of information and experience. We have encouraged EU countries to co-ordinate and share information on bilateral activities they undertake with China and will continue to do so.
	The commitment of the EU and China to co-operation on environment and energy issues, including climate change, was underlined and given an institutional structure under the UK presidency of the EU at the eighth EU-China summit in September 2005. At this summit, a joint declaration on climate change was agreed, launching the EU-China Partnership on Climate Change. This partnership provides a high-level political framework to further strengthen the co-operation between the EU and China by setting out concrete new actions to tackle climate change. These actions are set out in the rolling work plan, as agreed in Beijing on 19 October 2006.
	This partnership fully complements the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and has strengthened co-operation and dialogue on climate change including clean energy, and promotes sustainable development that incorporates work on climate change mitigation and adaptation. It also includes co-operation on the development, deployment and transfer of low-carbon technology, including advanced near-zero-emissions coal technology through carbon capture and storage.
	At the EU-China summit on 30 November 2009, both sides agreed to upgrade their climate change partnership in order to strengthen policy dialogue and practical co-operation. We hope the upgraded partnership will provide a platform for more comprehensive and strategic engagement on low-carbon development.
	Details of the partnership are regularly updated and available through the EUROPA website at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/china.htm.

Climate Change

Lord Hunt of Chesterton: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are considering providing equal levels of financial support to nuclear and renewable energy sources, in order to meet the targets in the Climate Change Act 2008 and to ensure a secure and balanced range of non-fossil energy sources.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The renewables obligation provides a financial incentive to invest in renewables by placing an obligation on electricity suppliers to source a certain proportion of the electricity they sell to customers from renewable sources.
	The Government have been clear that it will be for energy companies to fund, develop and build new nuclear power stations in the UK, including meeting the full costs of decommissioning and their full share of waste management costs.

Economy: Manufacturing

Lord Forsyth of Drumlean: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people were employed in manufacturing in each year since 1997.

Baroness Crawley: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, Director General for Office for National Statistics, to Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, dated 28 January 2010.
	The attached table contains the number of UK workforce jobs in manufacturing, in June of each year since 1997. Workforce jobs includes employee jobs, self-employed jobs and government-supported trainees. Quarterly data since 1978 are available at www.statistics. gov.uk.
	
		
			 UK Workforce Jobs (thousands) 
			 Seasonally adjusted 
			  Whole Economy Manufacturing Percentage (%) 
			 June 1997 28,697 4,528 16 
			 June 1998 28,824 4,554 16 
			 June 1999 29,127 4,381 15 
			 June 2000 29,554 4,255 14 
			 June 2001 29,890 4,084 14 
			 June 2002 30,064 3,881 13 
			 June 2003 30,350 3,694 12 
			 June 2004 30,671 3,547 12 
			 June 2005a 31,012 3,365 11 
			 June 2006a 31,257 3,261 10 
			 June 2007 31,471 3,187 10 
			 June 2008 31,661 3,138 10 
			 June 2009 30,987 2,883 9 
		
	
	a There is a discontinuity in the employee jobs series between December 2005 and September 2006 due to improvements to the annual benchmark. Further information can be found at http://www.statistics.gov.uk/Statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=9765.

Elections: OSC Monitoring

Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will continue their commitment to provide 10 per cent of the international team of election monitors for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe's election monitoring missions in the Commonwealth of Independent States region.

Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: The Government will keep to their existing commitment of providing up to 10 per cent of observers on an ad hoc basis.

Energy: Electricity Generation

Lord Reay: To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of the total electricity generated in the United Kingdom (a) in the week beginning 14 December 2009, and (b) in each of the following five weeks, was produced by wind power; and what was the peak demand for electricity on each of the days during that period.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: Using daily generation data, operationally metered wind contributed 0.8 per cent of total operationally metered generation during the week of 14 December 2009, and 0.3 per cent, 1.0 per cent, 0.7 per cent, 1.6 per cent and 1.0 per cent in the five following weeks. The highest demand peak during the six-week period, of 58,503 megawatts, occurred on 7 January 2010. The daily peak demand for the six weeks from 14 December 2009 is detailed in the table below.
	These generation data are made available by National Grid and only refer to wind power which is operationally metered-ie, around half of the UK onshore wind farms and none of the offshore wind farms. Data from DECC providing a more complete coverage of wind farms are available on a two to three-month lagged basis. Peak demand data are also from National Grid, using the initial demand outurn measure.
	
		
			 Date Peak demand (MW) 
			 14-Dec-09 55,048 
			 15-Dec-09 55,713 
			 16-Dec-09 55,297 
			 17-Dec-09 55,141 
			 18-Dec-09 55,477 
			 19-Dec-09 51,350 
			 20-Dec-09 50,315 
			 21-Dec-09 55,411 
			 22-Dec-09 54,821 
			 23-Dec-09 53,657 
			 24-Dec-09 48,794 
			 25-Dec-09 41,274 
			 26-Dec-09 40,808 
			 27-Dec-09 43,674 
			 28-Dec-09 48,108 
			 29-Dec-09 50,167 
			 30-Dec-09 49,704 
			 31-Dec-09 49,235 
			 01-Jan-10 45,197 
			 02-Jan-10 49,451 
			 03-Jan-10 50,483 
			 04-Jan-10 57,717 
			 05-Jan-10 57,071 
			 06-Jan-10 56,294 
			 07-Jan-10 58,503 
			 08-Jan-10 56,927 
			 09-Jan-10 53,092 
			 10-Jan-10 52,272 
			 11-Jan-10 57,998 
			 12-Jan-10 57,049 
			 13-Jan-10 57,789 
			 14-Jan-10 57,275 
			 15-Jan-10 54,204 
			 16-Jan-10 49,779 
			 17-Jan-10 48,606 
			 18-Jan-10 54,697 
			 19-Jan-10 53,962 
			 20-Jan-10 55,429 
			 21-Jan-10 54,563 
			 22-Jan-10 53,032 
			 23-Jan-10 
			 48,861 
			 24-Jan-10 48,713

Equal Pay

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Equality and Human Rights Commission's proposals for measuring and publishing information on the gender pay gap.

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: The Government believe that transparency about gender pay is an important way of shining a light on pay inequalities and encouraging employers to tackle them.
	Voluntary publishing by larger employers is the first important step towards achieving such transparency. The Government are pleased that the Equality and Human Rights Commission has worked with business, unions and other stakeholders to produce its proposals for voluntary gender pay publishing in the private and voluntary sectors. This report represents a useful and important step forward which will enable us to see what is effective and how employers respond to the voluntary approach.
	The commission will be monitoring progress on the extent to which employers have taken up the voluntary publishing approach and the Government will look at progress when considering the need to move to a mandatory approach through Clause 78 of the Equality Bill.

EU: Non-compliance

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: To ask Her Majesty's Government what sanctions can be imposed by the European Union on member states which do not pay fines imposed on them for non-compliance with European Union directives and regulations.

Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: Member states which do not pay fines for non-compliance with EU directives or regulations may be subject to further infraction proceedings under Article 258 of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union (TFEU), and fines under Article 260 TFEU.

European External Action Service

Lord Dykes: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they expect the European External Action Service to be established by the end of March as agreed at the 29 October 2009 European Council meeting.

Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: The European Council has stated that the decision to establish the European External Action Service (EEAS) should be adopted by the end of April, not March 2010. The detailed organisation and functioning of the EEAS will be decided by the member states by unanimity on the basis of a recommendation from the high representative. The high representative has set up a high-level group to help her prepare the draft decision.

Fire and Rescue Service

Lord Corbett of Castle Vale: To ask Her Majesty's Government what would be the cost to public funds of cancelling contracts to regionalise fire control rooms across England and Wales.

Lord McKenzie of Luton: The cost of cancelling contracts would depend on the circumstances of cancellation. Specific arrangements are set out in contracts which cannot be disclosed due to commercial confidentiality.

Gaza

Baroness Tonge: To ask Her Majesty's Government when the investigations into the conflict in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009 requested by the Goldstone report are expected to be completed by (a) Israel, and (b) the Hamas Government in Gaza.

Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: We have been clear in our call for all credible allegations to be properly investigated. The UN Secretary General is due to deliver a report in February 2010 into the progress of both Israeli and Palestinian investigations of their conduct during the Gaza conflict. Israel, Hamas, and the Palestinian Authority are all expected to contribute to this report.

Government Departments: Bonuses

Lord Newby: To ask Her Majesty's Government for each of the past three years for which figures are available, how many people were eligible for performance bonuses and special bonuses in the Department for Children, Schools and Families and its agencies, by Civil Service band; how many people received each type of bonus, by Civil Service band; what the average payment was for each type of bonus, by Civil Service band; and what the maximum payment was for each type of bonus, by Civil Service band.

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: An element of the DCSF overall pay award is allocated to non-consolidated variable pay related to performance. These payments are used to drive high performance and form part of the pay award for members of staff who demonstrate exceptional performance, for example by exceeding targets set or meeting challenging objectives.
	Non-consolidated variable pay awards are funded from within existing pay bill controls, and have to be re-earned each year against predetermined targets and, as such, do not add to future pay bill costs. The percentage of the pay bill set aside for performance-related awards for the SCS is based on recommendations from the independent Senior Salaries Review Body.
	The DCSF was established in June 2007 as part of the machinery of government changes and data for the two years covering the department are set out in the table below. The table shows details of how many people were eligible for and received non-consolidated variable pay awards and the average and the maximum payment for a non-consolidated variable pay award, by Civil Service band, awarded under the DCSF standard pay and performance management process.
	
		
			  Performance Year 2007-08  Performance Year 2008-09  
			  SCS Non-SCS SCS Non-SCS 
			 Number of staff eligible for non-consolidated performance payment 116 2,584 129 2,625 
			 Number of staff who received a non-consolidated performance payment 80 1,315 97 1,337 
			 Average value of non-consolidated performance payment £9,753 £998 £8,732 £851 
			 The value of maximum non-consolidated payment £25,000 £2,000 £15,000 £2,000 
			 Percentage of SCS paybill set aside for non-consolidated performance payments 8.6% N/A 8.6% N/A 
		
	
	The department has no agencies.

Homelessness

Lord Fearn: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many local authorities in north-west England have carried out a homelessness review in the past five years.

Lord McKenzie of Luton: Under Section 1 of the Homelessness Act 2002, local housing authorities are required to publish a homelessness strategy, based on a review of homelessness in their district, at least every five years. Authorities were required to publish their first homelessness strategy by 31 July 2003. There is no requirement for local authorities to provide details of their reviews or strategies to the Secretary of State. Information about the number of authorities in north-west England that have carried out a homelessness review in the past five years is not held centrally.

Homelessness

Lord Fearn: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the minimum period for which a local authority is subject to the main homelessness duty.

Lord McKenzie of Luton: There is no minimum period for which a local authority is subject to the main homelessness duty. As originally enacted Section 193 of the Housing Act 1996 (duty to persons with priority need who are not homeless intentionally) provided that the local authority's duty to secure accommodation was limited to two years. This restriction was removed by Section 6 of the Homelessness Act 2002.

House of Lords: Library

Lord Hunt of Chesterton: To ask the Chairman of Committees whether he will ask the Library of the House to provide a weekly summary of the main activities of the European Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and the Scottish Parliament.

Lord Brabazon of Tara: No. The preparation of a weekly summary of the activities of the three institutions would be a labour-intensive and time-consuming process for Library staff and would impact negatively on the core services currently offered to Members. The websites of the three institutions are comprehensive:
	http://www.europarl.europa.eu/http://www.assemblywales.org/; andhttp://www.scottish.parliament.uk/. 
	Members are encouraged to raise suggestions for new Library services with the Director of Information Services and Librarian in the first instance.

National Identity Register

Baroness Warsi: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people have (a) applied for, and (b) received, a national identity card.

Lord West of Spithead: Since 20 October 2009, and up to and including 23 January 2010, over 4,300 applicants have been enrolled or have made an enrolment appointment for an identity card. Of these applicants over 3,000 have been issued with a national identity card.

NHS: Race and Equality

Lord Ouseley: To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Baroness Royall of Blaisdon on 15 December 2009 (WA 212-13), how many other NHS organisations are being investigated by the Equality and Human Rights Commission; and in which sectors the 133 organisations being investigated are located.

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: In addition to compliance notices issued to three NHS trusts in December 2009, the Equality and Human Rights Commission is currently investigating 21 other NHS organisations for possible breach of the Race Relations Act. Of the 133 organisations being investigated by the commission, 87 are located in the public sector while 39 are in the private sector. Since 15 December 2009, seven case files have closed or are no longer active.

Northern Ireland: Human Rights Commission

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Baroness Royall of Blaisdon on 15 December 2009 (WA 213), whether commissioners are recorded in the minute as objecting to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission's proposed work to secure legislative implementation of its advice on a bill of rights for Northern Ireland, and the seeking of outside funding to do so.

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: The content of internal minutes is an operational matter for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, which operates independently of government. The noble Lord may wish to write to the commission directly on these matters.

Ofcom

Lord Ouseley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of how Ofcom is fulfilling its statutory duty to promote equality of opportunity in relation to employment of those providing television and radio services.

Lord Davies of Oldham: Ofcom is independent of government. As such, the Government have made no assessment.

Ofcom

Lord Ouseley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures are sufficient to meet the requirement in the Communications Act 2003 for Ofcom to "take all such steps as they consider appropriate for promoting equality of opportunity".

Lord Davies of Oldham: This is a matter for Ofcom, which is independent of government.

Olympic Games 2012: Accommodation

Lord Ouseley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what facilities for athletes' residential accommodation at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be removed from such accommodation after the Games; and what is the cost of such facilities.

Lord Davies of Oldham: The Olympic village has been designed from the outset to provide both accommodation for the athletes during Games time, and, after the Games, homes for a new sustainable community which will be at the heart of a vibrant economic and social hub in east London. Temporary partitions and bathroom facilities will be installed for the duration of the Games, and will be removed as part of the transition to permanent housing. These elements are provided for in the overall budget for the Olympic village. Commercial confidentiality prevents disclosure of budget amounts until the subcontracts have been let.
	Temporary facilities for athletes and officials at Games time are part of the Games overlay, which is the responsibility of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. This includes common facilities for athletes-such as dining areas, and faith facilities. LOCOG is in the process of working up these plans with its Athletes Commission. LOCOG is a company limited by guarantee, and the cost of the overlay will be met out of its budget-primarily privately financed from sponsorship, ticket sales, merchandise and broadcast rights.

Parking

Lord Lucas: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will advise local authorities that, when 26 December or 1 January falls on a Saturday, parking restrictions should be enforced as if the day in question is a public holiday.

Lord Adonis: No. Local authorities' traffic regulation orders will indicate when parking restrictions are enforceable. Where they are enforceable, it is for individual authorities to determine how and when to enforce them, and to inform drivers effectively

Parking

Lord Lucas: To ask Her Majesty's Government with reference to a letter dated 30 November 2009 from the Minister of State at the Department for Transport, Sadiq Khan, to Karen Buck, whether they will discuss with the Local Government Ombudsman the Minister's statement that "the department is not aware of any regulations that remove the powers of the Local Government Ombudsman [to investigate the enforcement of parking and moving traffic contraventions in London]"; and whether the Local Government Ombudsman is able to investigate such matters.

Lord Adonis: Department for Transport officials will be meeting the Local Government Ombudsman shortly to discuss this matter further.

Questions for Written Answer

Lord Jopling: To ask the Leader of the House further to her Written Answer on 11 January (WA 135-6), what steps have been taken to bring to the attention of the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change the fact that his department had the worst record of all departments in answering Questions for Written Answer in the House of Lords between May 2009 and the end of the 2008-09 session, having answered 42 per cent within the two-week target.

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: I wrote to all Cabinet colleagues on 26 January stressing the importance that Ministers should continue to give Written Questions; highlighting the recently published statistical information; and drawing specific attention to the significant variations across departments. My office has also been in direct contact with the Department of Energy and Climate Change which has confirmed that, since the last parliamentary Session, it has created a new dedicated database and introduced a new monitoring system for Written Questions. Recent statistics show a significant improvement, with approximately 68 per cent of Lords Questions for Written Answer falling to the department in the current Session being answered within 14 days.

Railways: East Coast

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have for electric IC225 units in use on the east coast main railway line; and whether those plans have been discussed with the owning rolling stock company.

Lord Adonis: Plans for the use of electric IC225 units, including their replacement in 2017-18 by super-express trains, were outlined in the east coast franchise consultation document, which was released on 21 January 2010.
	All rolling stock leasing companies were fully involved in the development of the super-express train specification up until the issue of the European Journal initial tender notice in 2007, at which point their continuing involvement could have created a conflict of interest.

Railways: East Coast

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will publish the business case for the proposed substitution of the intercity express trains for the existing IC225 locomotives and carriages.

Lord Adonis: The Government have no plans to publish the business case for IC225 replacement until after the conclusion of current contractual negotiations with Agility Trains.

Railways: East Coast

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether plans for the use of electric IC225 units will be reviewed following any decisions on future railway funding.

Lord Adonis: Plans for the use of electric IC225 units, including their replacement in 2017-18 by super-express trains, were outlined in the east coast franchise consultation document, which was released on 21 January 2010.

Somalia: Pirates

Lord Luce: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to establish an international agreement to prohibit the payment of ransoms for the release of hostages taken by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean.

Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: The Government do not make or facilitate substantive concessions to Somali pirates, including the payment of ransoms. Although there is no UK law preventing third parties such as ship owners paying ransoms, we counsel against them doing so, as we believe making concessions to pirates encourages future hijacks.
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is working with international partners, including the UN, to address the issues of financial flows related to piracy including the payment of ransoms, and has supported work by Interpol and others to develop practical proposals in this area.

Teesside Cast Products Plant

Lord Bates: To ask Her Majesty's Government what meetings have taken place between Ministers and Tata Steel about the future of the Teesside Cast Products plant.

Lord Davies of Abersoch: My right honourable friend the Prime Minister, my noble friend Lord Mandelson and other Ministers from my department have regularly met or spoken to senior representatives of Corus and Tata Steel as well as local MPs, trade unions and regional offices about the situation at Teesside.

Teesside Cast Products Plant

Lord Bates: To ask Her Majesty's Government what meetings have taken place between Ministers and potential buyers of the Teesside Cast Products plant.

Lord Davies of Abersoch: There have been no ministerial meetings with potential buyers but the Government continue to explore the opportunities and scope for Corus to find the strategic partner it regards as necessary.

Transport: Snowfall

Lord Condon: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to learn and disseminate lessons from the effects on road, rail and air transport from the recent cold weather and snow.

Lord Adonis: We will wish to consider carefully the lessons from the recent severe weather, taking into account the reviews which local authorities and others conduct. Valuable reviews were conducted last year by the House of Commons Transport Select Committee (The Effects of Adverse Weather Conditions on Transport, HC328), the Local Government Association (Weathering the Storm), the UK Roads Liaison Group (Lessons from the Severe Weather February 2009) and the Greater London Authority (Slipping Up?). It will be important to build on these. Four recommendations from the UKRLG report were specifically addressed to this department and the Highways Agency. My Written Statement on 15 December 2009 (Official Report, cols. WS 253-55) advised what action had been taken by this department and the Highways Agency consistent with those recommendations. These recommendations have been adopted.
	With respect to the strategic road network in England, following the winter season the Highways Agency will be conducting its own review of the events this winter and will contribute to any wider lessons-learned exercises that are undertaken.
	Looking at the longer term, my department's climate change adaption plan, which is due to be published in March, will set out how the department and its agencies will be addressing the challenge of making the United Kingdom's transport network more resilient to the more extreme weather events which we are likely to see in future.